Close throughout, it was tied at 70 with 3:28 left on a 3-pointer by Jacksonville State's Erik Dunham. Samford (5-3) responded with a 3 by Thompson, Wyatt Walker made a pair from the line and Josh Sharkey (nine points) nailed a jumper to make it 77-70 with 1:21 left.

Ashton Spears hit a 3 and a pair of free throws to get JSU (5-4) back to within two with 28 seconds left, but Cunningham made 4 of 4 from the line to ice it.